"Going to hell in a handbasket", "going to hell in a handcart", "going to hell in a handbag", "go to hell in a bucket", "sending something to hell in a handbasket" and "something being like hell in a handbasket" are variations on an allegorical

locution Locution can refer to: * a figure of speech * Locution (paranormal), a mode of supernatural revelation * Locution (catchphrase), a particular word, phrase, or expression, especially associated with a particular person, region, group, or cultural l ...

of unclear origin, which describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately. NOMG07HellHandbasketKidsWagon

Possible origins

The origin of the phrase has been much debated. Its usage may be dated to the baskets used to catch guillotined heads in the eighteenth century. Early visualizations of the phrase might possibly be associated with religious iconography such as the

stained glass windows Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

Fairford Church St Mary's Church is a Church of England church in Fairford, Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its complete set of 28 medieval stained-glass windows, one of the best-preserved in England. Part of the tower dates from the early 15th cen ...

in Gloucestershire and Hieronymus Bosch's painting ''

The Haywain ''The Hay Wain'' – originally titled ''Landscape: Noon'' – is a painting by John Constable, completed in 1821, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It hangs in the National Gall ...

'', circa 1515, which portrays a large cart of hay being drawn by "infernal beings that drag everyone to Hell".

19th century usages

In the 19th century, the phrase has been found associated with the American gold rush of the 1840s where men were lowered by hand in baskets down mining shafts to set explosives which could have deadly consequences. The phrase has been used in sermons since at least 1841, as can be seen in the publication, ''Short Patent Sermons'': "

hose people A hose is a flexible hollow tube designed to carry fluids from one location to another. Hoses are also sometimes called '' pipes'' (the word ''pipe'' usually refers to a rigid tube, whereas a hose is usually a flexible one), or more generally ' ...

who would rather ride to hell in a hand-cart than walk to heaven supported by the staff of industry". Also in 1841, a mention of the phrase can be found in ''The Star of Freedom'': "..Sanctified hypocrites will tell you not, and that, do what you will, you are all to go to hell in a handbasket, thereby, in fact, making you mere passive creatures in this world passive to their will..." In 1862, the journal ''Weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome: or, The History of Popery'' stated: "...that noise of a Popish Plot was nothing in the world but an intrigue of the Whigs to destroy the Kings best Friends, and the Devil fetch me to Hell in a Hand basket, if I might have my will, there should not be one Fanatical Dog left alive in the three Kingdoms." I. Winslow Ayer's 1865 polemic alleges, "Judge Morris of the Circuit Court of Illinois at an August meeting of

Order of the Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...

said: "Thousands of our best men were prisoners in Camp Douglas, and if once at liberty would 'send abolitionists to hell in a hand basket.

In popular culture

Various versions of the phrase have appeared in the title of several published works and other media: *''

To Hell in a Handbag ''To Hell in a Handbag: The Secret Lives of Canon Chasuble and Miss Prism'' is a 2016 play by the Irish actor/writers Helen Norton and Jonathan White. It deals with two minor characters from Oscar Wilde’s play ''The Importance of Being Earnest''. ...

'' is the title of a 2016 comic play by Helen Norton and Jonathan White.Event of the week: To Hell in a Handbag
by Peter Crawley, ''The Irish Times'', August 24, 2019 *''To Hell in a Handbasket'' is the name of humorist

H. Allen Smith Harry Allen Wolfgang Smith (December 19, 1907—February 24, 1976) was an American journalist, humorist, and writer whose books were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Family and early career Smith was born in McLeansboro, Illinois, where he liv ...

's 1962 autobiography. *''Hell in a Handbasket'' was the title of a 1988 ''Star Trek'' comic book. *''Hell in a Handbasket'' is the title of a 2006 book () by American cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, who authors the cartoon strip '' This Modern World''. *"Hell in a handbasket" was the name of an undescribed con requiring a trained cat referenced in the 2004 film, '' Ocean's Twelve''. *"Hell in a Bucket" is a song off of the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

's 1987 album '' In the Dark''. *''Hell in a Handbasket'' is a song from Voltaire's ''

Ooky Spooky ''Ooky Spooky'' is the fifth studio album by Cuban American dark cabaret/Dark Wave singer Voltaire. It was released on July 31, 2007 by Projekt Records, being the last Voltaire album to do so, since his contract with Projekt Records expired. Vo ...

'' album. *''

Hell in a Handbasket ''Hell in a Handbasket'' is the eleventh studio album by Meat Loaf, released September 30, 2011, in Australia and New Zealand, through Legacy Recordings (Sony Music Entertainment). A wider global release followed in early 2012. Background The a ...

'' is the title of a 2011 Meat Loaf album.

References

{{Reflist English phrases Hell in popular culture